list.co.uk/fi lm Previews | MUSIC
POP LANA DEL REY O2 Academy, Glasgow, Wed 15 & Thu 16 May
Lana Del Rey’s ascension from all-but-unknown singer- songwriter ‘Lizzy Grant’ to the enormously successful, sepia-soaked sweetheart we know today has been quite remarkable. Coming to prominence in an age where ‘overnight sensation’ is a literal term, it’s pretty clear that a strong image and an eye for trends – both in music and fashion – can be much more effective than the old-school ‘hard slog’. But Del Rey’s success has been a bit of both, the result of a series of stop-starts, patience and persistence which have finally paid off. For all the inevitable despair and uproar over her
‘manufactured’ image and the seemingly drastic change in personality it took in order to achieve this award-winning, chart-crushing success, you really have to hand it to Del Rey and co for creating a relatively tiny body of work that has had such a profound impact on popular music, fashion and mainstream culture in barely a year-and-a-half. Regardless of whether she’s a pop star by committee or an organic artist of her own design, the cleverly stylised, smartly produced tales of excess and the damage of love, and her retro-fascinated, almost cinematic image continue to strike such a powerful chord. That fact is made abundantly clear by the slew of sold-out shows and extra dates tagged onto her Born to Die Tour.
Her links to Kassidy singer Barrie-James O’Neill have resulted in the doe-eyed chanteuse springing up around Glasgow, to the point where she herself refers to the city as her second home. And as she begins to bring her gruelling tour cycle to an end in support of Born to Die: The Paradise Edition, her two-day stint at the O2 Academy is bound to prove a spectacular ‘homecoming’. (Ryan Drever)
NOISE/HIP-HOP DEATH GRIPS SWG3, Glasgow, Tue 30 Apr
After their recent South by Southwest showcase set, Death Grips’ live show was memorably described by SPIN magazine as a journey into ‘chaotically thrilling what-the-fuckness’. All 33 minutes of it are up on their website now, featuring fearsome, bare-chested singer/rapper in-chief MC Ride (Stefan Burnett) snapping out a martial holler over a death-rattle of overdriven electro noise, but the sense is that you really want to be there in person. In which case, you know what to do.
Although Burnett is the very memorable face of the hard-to-categorise Sacramento outfit, drummer and
producer Zach Hill is the musical arranger, following on from his spells with his own math-rock project Hella and playing variously with Wavves, Mike Patton and Nervous Cop (Hill, Joanna Newsom and Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier). On the live stage, Hill concentrates solely on drums while the duo welcome Andy Morin to play the fuzzy, looping samples which help build the whole aesthetic into a battering sonic fog of war. First coming to attention with the 2011 mixtape Exmilitary, the group launched their major label career last year with the Epic-released debut album, The Money Store, and ended it with the immediate follow- up. Highlights of No Love Deep Web included the band leaking it ahead of release without the label’s permission, and an album cover featuring the title scrawled on Hill’s erect penis (which would be bloody hard to do, so kudos to him for managing). Like their music, such behaviour seems bloody-minded, excessively confrontational and utterly attention-grabbing. (David Pollock)
FIVE REASONS TO GO TO . . . BIG DAY IN
1. It’s in, not out
Worried about the shameful 'spring' weather we’ve been having? Wishing you could get away from it with some antipodean (autumn) sunshine and a bunch of bands in a field? Well, tough. But if you couldn’t afford the flight to Oz and back for Big Day Out, why not spend a Sunday hunched in the dark drinking lager and watching very good bands from 2pm until 3am? Take your tap aff for the full effect. And probably get chucked out. 2. It’s Electric Circus
Yes, we know the karaoke hen nights walking through to the booths next door are a distraction, but the oddly glam Electric Circus has been forging a strong reputation in recent months as the best place in Edinburgh to see a broad range of good local acts and touring bands of a certain quality. Their team – particularly hard-grafting promoter John-Paul Mason – deserve a lot of credit and plenty of people through the doors.
3. Dutch Uncles (above) are headlining Google them. Give them a listen. Did you hear the sort-of Grace Jones cover ‘Slave to the Atypical Rhythm’? Or the ones that sound like Hot Chip gone white-boy funk? Aren’t they good? That’s correct.
4. The rest of the bill’s exceptional
Discopolis. FOUND’s Lomond Campbell and River of Slime. Dems. Jonnie Common. The Machine Room. And so on, including DJs Errors, Vic Galloway and Ally McCrae. ‘Finger on the pulse’, we’re saying. And also ‘a bunch of Edinburgh’s very best bands in one place.’ 5. It might be really sunny
In which case you can stand out on Market Street with all the smokers and lap it up. See? Just like a festival. You don’t even need a tent. (David Pollock) ■ Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Sun 5 May. See page 82 to win tickets.
18 Apr–16 May 2013 THE LIST 75